Thursday, June 25, 2009

Some people say that Nutella is the peanut butter of Europe. I'd have to agree. When I backpacked through Europe in 2005, I too often found myself in the 'exotic foods' section of the grocery store desperately searching the shelves for a jar of peanut butter. Usually there were just one or two jars of creamy unsalted for about twice as much as I would pay in the U.S. But price was not an issue, because denying oneself of a peanut butter craving for an entire month is not healthy, at least not for me.

My German friend has told me she's had a similar experience with buying Nutella in California. The stuff is way more expensive here than it is in Europe, and usually there is just that one brand - Nutella, whereas European groceries offer far more options.Since I just got back from a week long European excursion through Germany and Prague, I am dedicating this post to Europe and it's delicious culinary invention of Nutella, or more generally, chocolate hazelnut spread.

I was curious about making my own chocolate hazelnut spread, but I wanted to try it with almonds instead of hazelnuts (I'll explain why in the next post). I found this recipe on Baking Bites and made a few adjustments.

Ok, I'm not going to lie -- this was not easy. Well, the original recipe is easy, but since I was looking for a smooth spread, I had to strain it all through a sieve to get rid of the chunkiness from the ground almond. But the taste? It was amazing and totally worth the effort. This spread had a strong almond flavor which was very nicely balanced with a sweet chocolatey flavor. All in all, this was chocolate almond heaven.Chocolate Almond Spread (adapted from Baking Bites)

My college roommate had German parents, and she said that they made her Nutella sandwiches for lunch almost every day growing up. Your peanut butter comparison makes perfect sense, because my mom made me peanut butter sandwiches almost every day growing up!

I have never thought about making my own Nutella, but I have all of these ingredients except milk powder on hand, so maybe I'll give it a try!!

This looks even better than real Nutella! If I can hunt down all the ingredients I'll give it a try very soon! I don't think they even sell almond-nutella-like substances in Germany, so I can't wait to see how it tastes.